Easy Vegan Pesto (Oil-free!)

This simple and Easy Vegan Pesto recipe is fresh, oil-free, just 6 ingredients and takes just a few minutes to prepare. Healthy and wholesome with lots of fresh basil and pine nuts!

EASY VEGAN PESTO

I have always loved pesto. I love it even more with it is a healthy pesto, as well as being extremely simple and easy to make with only a few ingredients. This easy vegan pesto is oil-free, unlike traditional pesto, which has crazy amounts of oil.

This recipe comes from Emily Von Euw and her cookbook, The Rawsome Vegan Cookbook. As Emily describes it, “A balance of Raw and Lightly-cooked, Gluten-free, Plant-based Meal for Healthy Living”.

Emily’s blog, This Rawsome Vegan Life, is extremely successful and even though she is known for raw food, I love that this book has a ton of cooked recipes. I do not follow a raw diet, so this fits more into my daily lifestyle and eating. Emily is also known for her simplicity, which you all know I love and focus on as well with my own recipes.

Her book contains over 80 recipes, all accompanied with a beautiful photo, and very easy meals. They are all heavily focused on the simplicity and beauty of veggies. The meals are light, not heavy, so they won’t weigh you down. There are a ton of completely raw recipes and also a lot of lightly-cooked recipes. If you check out Emily on Instagram, you can get a pretty good idea of the type of food you would see in her cookbook! Light, fresh, easy and simple.

I was immediately drawn to this oil-free vegan pesto that I’m sharing with you today because I loved how easy it was and I LOVE basil. Oh, and I LOVE pasta and wanted something more on the filling side. This has a strong flavor from all of the fresh basil and bold flavor of pine nuts.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED

• Fresh basil
• Pine nuts
• Garlic
• Pasta: I used gluten-free penne, but use whatever you like.
• Grape tomatoes
• Nutritional yeast
• Lemon juice

HOW TO MAKE VEGAN PESTO OIL FREE

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Cut all the tomatoes in half and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are bubbling and slightly wrinkled.

Step 2: Cook pasta according to the package directions.

Step 3: To make the pesto: blend all the ingredients until you reach the desired consistency. I wanted mine completely smooth. As noted above, I also added lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Add more salt if needed

Step 4: Toss pasta with the pesto and serve with the roasted tomatoes.

MORE VEGAN OIL FREE SAUCES

• Vegan Chimichurri Sauce
• Poblano Pepper Cream Sauce
• Texas BBQ Sauce
• Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
• Vegan Lemon Sauce
• Best Vegan Alfredo Sauce
• Creamy Chili Sauce with Pasta

Emily is allowing me to share this beautiful recipe for her cookbook with you all today! You can purchase a copy of her cookbook here!

Easy Vegan Pesto (Oil-free!)

Brandi Doming

This simple and Easy Vegan Pesto recipe is fresh, oil-free, just 6 ingredients and takes just a few minutes to prepare. Healthy and wholesome with lots of fresh basil and pine nuts!

4.92 from 12 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine American, Gluten-free, Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 dry pint (275g) grape tomatoes
• 2 cups (232g) uncooked whole grain, gluten-free penne pasta
• 2 cups (48g) lightly packed basil leaves
• 1/4 cup (60g) water
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 teaspoon himalayan salt
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 a lemon, or as much as you'd like, to taste
• I use this scale.

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Cut all the tomatoes in half and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are bubbling and slightly wrinkled.
• Cook the pasta according the package directions.
• To make the pesto: blend all the ingredients until you reach the desired consistency. I wanted mine completely smooth. As noted above, I also added lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Add more salt if needed.
• Toss the pesto with the cooked pasta and garnish with extra basil and serve with the roasted tomatoes.

Notes

While the recipe in her book didn't call for it, I added more ingredients for more flavor. I added a little bit of nutritional yeast and lemon juice to mine as well. I like them in my pesto.

Tried this recipe?Tag @thevegan8brandi on Instagram and use tag #thevegan8!

Keyword easy vegan pesto, oil free vegan pesto, simple vegan pesto, vegan pesto no oil, vegan pesto recipe

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